Craig Smith continued his strong start to the season by scoring an overtime game-winner, one-timing a pass from David Legwand to lift the Nashville Predators to victory over Winnipeg, 3-2.
Shea Weber opened the scoring with a power play goal late in the 1st period, capping off a reversal of fortune for Nashville, which was dominated in the early going. Anthony Peluso tied the game for Winnipeg with a wraparound score that survived video review in the 2nd period, and Patric Hornqvist scored a go-ahead goal early in the 3rd, slamming home a rebound opportunity from the faceoff circle. With 3:01 left in the 3rd, however, Blake Wheeler tied things back up by converting a rebound chance of his own to send the game to overtime.
Carter Hutton stepped into Pekka Rinne’s big skates and made 34 saves to record his second victory as a Nashville Predator.
Random Observations
- Viktor Stalberg scratched. SMH. Seriously, scratch Hendricks already.
- Perhaps even more impressive than any skating or shooting I’ve seen out of Craig Smith, what really impressed me tonight was a simple dump-in with about 6 minutes left in the 1st period. He hung onto the puck a little extra long in order for his linemates to get into the rush, and ended up taking a decent hit in order to make the play. That’s a nice demonstration of team commitment and #grit.
- Make sure to follow the Fancy Stats link below and check out the advanced stats, the pairing of Mattias Ekholm & Kevin Klein had another rough night at even strength.
- The Preds haven’t given up a power play goal in two weeks, however, and Ekholm & Klein do deserve some credit for that.
- Well, at least the “so far, so good for Carter Hutton as Pekka’s backup” part of my 10-Game Report still rings true.
- Mike Fisher looked pretty effective in his return to action, showing particularly good jump in the overtime session. This team really needs he, Legwand & Cullen to put together a decent amount of offensive pressure.
Boxscore – Game Summary – Event Summary – Fancy Stats
Roll the video highlights…
More from On the Forecheck:
- Nashville Predators News: Pekka Rinne Out 4 Weeks With Hip Infection
- Nashville Predators 10 Game Report: Ascending to Mediocrity
- Nashville Predators News: Carrie Underwood Breaks News of Mike Fisher’s Foot Fracture
- Wednesday’s Dump & Chase: You Can’t Win ‘Em All
- Minnesota Wild 2, Nashville Predators 0: Pekka Rinne’s Strong Play Wasted in Loss/
Who is your Predator of the Game?
| Patric Hornqvist | 1 |
| Carter Hutton | 106 |
| Craig Smith | 113 |
| Shea Weber | 10 |